We’ve not really seen a film like Space Station 76 before. Writer/director Jack Plotnick’s future-as-told-from-the-70s look at what we take with us, as humans â no matter the location or destination â is a heartfelt, deadpan, melodramatic, tongue-in-cheek drama with a lot of endearing qualities. There’s a lot going on underneath the surface of the film, but that doesn’t stop the film from being wholly enjoyable and a delight. So we chatted up Plotnick about growing up in the suburbs, the hopes of the 70s for tomorrow, and just how trivial we all, ultimately, are as human beings.
Unfortunately a chunk of our conversation didn’t record (technology is fickle and never perfect, ugh/DAMN IT), but there’s still plenty to enjoy and get out of our wee conversation.
Nerdist: So, Jack, could you tell me what it was in particular that drew you to the 70s for this project?
Jack Plotnick: The genesis of the project was that I had wanted to find a way to explore what it was like to grow up in the suburbs in the 70s, so it was only ever going to take place there. However, artistically I just thought it was more interesting to set it in the future as we had imagined it in the 70s. A.) because as a child I was obsessed with that and all the great sci-fi films of the time, which this movie is an homage to. But on top of that, setting in the future that we dreamed up but actually never came to be, is sort of like this unrealized dream. Emotionally, what was happening in the suburbs who had these dreams of what their life was supposed to be. They followed the rules and got married and moved to the suburbs and had 2.5 children but it didnât really work out the way people wanted in some circumstances. Sort of a metaphor for unrealized dreams. Setting it on top of a space ship in the middle of nowhere felt like a such great way to dramatize the isolation and claustrophobia of living in the suburbs, you know? It was a way to try and get to the truer heart of what was happening.
Nerdist: Well, when I first started the movie I was admittedly a little apprehensive. I worried, âIs this going to be too corny?â But it makes this interesting allegory for the stasis of our own societal ideals, brought up through those people who grew up in the 70s and had all these dreams and continued to hold onto those dreams even though, at this point, theyâre so antiquated and out of touch with reality.
JP: [Laughs] Sure, absolutely, you know the movie is also about how difficult it can be to connect at any time whether its the 70s or now. And I think everybody on that ship is going through that â wanting to connect but being unable to.
Nerdist: That was something I felt super drawn to in the story. This whole idea about how technology and the future were supposed to make things so much better, but at the same time itâs still just as isolating, if not more so, now that we have all of these magical advances.
JP: Oh yeah [laughs], absolutely. I do think that weâve worked so hard for this technology and itâs actually making it harder for people to connect.
Nerdist: It probably doesnât help that I was in a very emotional state when I watched the movie, but I was taken aback at just how poignant and endearingly honest it felt in its portrayal of that eternal struggle. How, regardless of what we have around us to try and make things less lonely and isolating, weâre always going to feel that way just because weâre human in our own bodies having our own experience.
JP: I love it, it sounds like you really got it and I appreciate that. And on top of that, itâs kind of like the most honest approach to sci-fi. Because, number one, when we do go up there, it wonât be an attack of aliens or some crazy space adventure. Itâs going to be a lot of hanging around and living our lives and the truth about humans is, no matter how advanced we get and no matter how far out in space we might travel, we bring ourselves. Itâs âwherever we go, there we are,” you know? And wherever we go there are our petty conflicts and needs and desires that sort of never can be truly fulfilled because thereâs always some of that â whatâs that K.D. Lang song? “Constant Craving”?
Nerdist: Yup!
JP: Itâs sort of the human condition.
Nerdist: Itâs like that line in the beginning of Liv Tylerâs voiceover when sheâs talking about us compared to the asteroids and she says âwe change, and thatâs the problem.â My immediate reaction was âoh my god, what? No! This is too real for this comedic sci-fi movie! Whatâs happening?!â
JP: [laughs] Totally, I agree, but hopefully that voiceover frames the movie in a way that helps you understand what itâs trying to say beyond the laughs. Hopefully people get that itâs a dark comedy or maybe you could call it tongue-and-cheek drama. Thereâs plenty to laugh at if youâre willing to laugh in uncomfortable situations and laugh at peopleâs foibles. Thatâs my favorite kind of comedy, uncomfortable comedy. I just eat that up. Some of my favorites are ones like [Diablo Codyâs] Young Adult or Todd Solondzâ Happiness. Movies where youâre tackling whatâs happening but maybe the person next to you likeâs âOh my god, why are you laughing at that?â
[[Unfortunately hereâs where our recorder decided to stop working for 10 minutes â so youâre unfortunately going to miss out on Plotnick and myâs discussion on darker comedy and series and movies that look at dissecting those moments of intimate terror. But trust us that it was very good. Don’t worry, we’re just as sad as you.]]
JP: Thereâs a deleted scene on the DVD [featuring Misty/actress Marisa Coughlan] that is so terrible, itâs just her with her daughter again, and she’s just misbehaving in such a way.
Nerdist: That whole dynamic with her and her poor daughter Sunshine. Sheâs just passed around and nobody really knows what to do with her except for Jessica [Liv Tyler], which is so sweet, juxtaposed to her motherâs manipulative machinations.
JP: Kylie [Rodger, the actress who portrays Sunshine] is such a genius little actress and I barely even had to direct her â she just understands scenes in an incredibly mature and insightful way. She represents so many of us who grew up as latchkey kids, whose parents had their lives. And though I think Ted and Misty think theyâre doing their best, but, you know â parents have lives, too. And sometimes theyâre unaware of how their kid is feeling. I feel like she stands in the film as a surrogate for the audience. If she can survive that crazy environment then so can we. And if you watched the film, you did survive it, but the scene where she bonds with her father was probably one of my absolute favorite moments of the film.
Nerdist: Aww, yes! That was lovely.
JP: She really captured that complete joy that a child can bounce from because theyâre so, durable? Is that the right word? I don’t think it is, but.
Nerdist: I know what youâre trying to say but the word is totally escaping me, too. But yes, that! [[Sidenote: I think we both meant resilient.]]
JP: I make a lot of fun of unhealthy parent/child stuff in the film but itâs because, well, I was around some of that misbehavior as a child and I think itâs funny.
Nerdist: Itâs funny to see parents just not being parents and the kids just having to deal with it.
JP: You know my stepfather shared with me that when he was growing up the rule was you sent the children out to play, and they werenât allowed to come back into the house until nighttime. Unless they got hurt! But that was always just the thing and it wasnât until recently that parents got much more involved in childrenâs lives. The idea was âtheyâll be fine!â
Nerdist: I was born in’86 and that was exactly how my grandparents, who largely raised my siblings and I, saw it, too. But thereâs something to that ‘going out on your own’ thing â it makes you very adaptable as a kid. And independent. Like in that scene where Sunshine goes and turns off the gravity in the room and floats around by herself. Thereâs just a vacillation in her silence of all these different emotions, and itâs all very poignant, how we see her suspended in this moment, seeing her discover and deal with all those feelings and emotions completely by herself without a safety net.
JP: Oh my gosh, thatâs so beautifully said. Thereâs so many things, in my mind, happening in that moment I almost wouldnât want to tell you because itâs a good moment for people to sit and think about âwell, what does this moment me to me?â But I really like what youâre saying because I do think itâs a really powerful moment.
Nerdist: You see that she sees so much promise. I kept being very surprised throughout the film with how poignant the emotional moments were throughout the film.
JP: Oh yeah, well these are incredible, A-List actors. And theyâre all doing these incredibly heartfelt but hysterical performances. Really subtle but really funny â everybody just really got the tone of the film and they were really having fun in it, but theyâre such good actors you really get wrapped up in their pain and pathos as well. Whenever things get too painful thereâs always, hopefully, an absurd moment you can laugh at. Because thatâs life, you know?
Nerdist: I feel like the Bots helped a lot with that sort of comic relief interjections every so often.
JP: We just loved DoctorBot. There really must be a toy made.
Nerdist: I would love that. Youâve got a mini DoctorBot on your desk and itâs all âDoctorBot youâre the only one that understands!â and it just starts blinking read lights and warning you âDonât get too close! You are too attached!â
JP: Heâs hysterical! That would be great.
Nerdist: He’s just so indicative of the time and what people wanted out of technology that it was just not quite ready to give us yet.
JP: Yes! … I just dig that period so much. Like the flip clocks â we couldnât quite figure out how to make them digital yet but we knew they were coming, and so instead we got the flip clock. Like the one Captain Glenn has near his bath.
Nerdist: Oh gosh that scene was so sad, but at the same time, so funny. Like all he wanted to do was end it, electrocute himself in the bath but the system shut it down and took care of it before he could even get hurt. The look on his face, like âMan, I canât even kill myself right!â
JP: Oh, I know! That poor guy. I think that scene is hysterical, and Patrick [Wilson] is such a funny person. The wonderful thing is that heâs created this very real character and so itâs really funny but so subtle in that moment.
Nerdist: Itâs like that whole scene with him and Liv Tyler when theyâre yelling at each other, âWhy canât you just be a woman?â âWhy canât you just be a man?â âWhat does that even mean?!â Itâs funny to me, because that thinking is so inherently part of the problem â what does any of that, any of this, even mean? â and yet those ruminations and worries consume us all. He tried, especially, I feel like to try and define himself as this Type-A Man and thatâs just not what he was.
JP: Yeah, poor guy. There are so many people in the world who just canât be who they really are and so theyâve got that internal battle, but I love that Christmas party scene. Whatâs happening is so horrible and so tense but thereâs just so much laughter in that scene, those moments. Iâm really happy that it gets so much laughter, because it is so explosive and traumatic for the people involved.
Nerdist: It felt very British. Like when Donna comes in and goes on and on about the cake.
JP: [Laughs] Thatâs one of my favorite lines; I LOVE that line! Nobody notices or points out that line. Donnaâs moving out of the ship and sheâs all upset that no oneâs throwing her a goodbye party. âItâs a Christmas cake,â and Steve [Jerry OâConnell] goes âGet a drink, Donna.â Talk about trivialities but THATâS what weâre going to bring to space. We just are. Because wherever we go that shit is on our minds. Thatâs the kind of stuff that tickles me.
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Have you checked out Space Station 76? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Images: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
It’s a damn weird flick, but I enjoyed watching it. I kinda wish it was an ongoing tv series. Kinda like Red Dwarf meets Mel rose Place.